A somewhat overlooked aspect to the issue of revised voter identification requirements is the actual cost associated with obtaining a new ID. When one factors the time required, the travel involved, (often in a big city,) and the actual hard costs, the requirements to get new identification become as detrimental as the once draconian Jim Crow poll taxes. Southern whites at one time scoffed at the arguments against poll taxes in the same way Republican organizers scoff at the requirements to obtain new compliant identification. When citizens in the south were once asked to pay 10 cents in order to vote (thereby eliminating large blocks of poor blacks) they laughed and scoffed at the detractors. “If you can’t pay 10 cents why should even be able to vote?”
The same relative arguments are made by todays Republican neocons. They say, just go down to the DMV, pay $10.00 and you’re done. They fail to see the cost of transportation to and from (sometimes in a city), the potential cost of child care, the time lost at work, and the actual hard costs of the new identification. Sounds like small potatoes, but if you’re living at the poverty line, $25 to $50 is prohibitive and the equivalent of a Poll Tax. This doesn’t have to happen. Alternative ID’s have always been acceptable.
Another argument against the photo aspect is the turnaround time of the local DMV’s or state authorities. In some cases, this can take up to a month and in fact most states have drastically cut back on services like DMV branches. So now if an individual waits until October to go to the DMV, he or she may be out of luck due to processing lags they cannot control. Dumb, idiotic, stupid, and unfair!
Fortunately appellate courts are shooting down these new voting laws one by one. So far Texas, South Carolina, Indiana, and Arizona have seen the new laws repealed. This might be headed for the Supreme Court which is now close to 50-50 on the issue with Justice Kennedy being the probable swing voter.
